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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| The rate of decline in function in Alzheimer's disease and other dementias | | Author(s) | Arnold B Mitnitski, Janice E Graham, Alexander J Mogilner |
| Journal title | The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, vol 54A, no 2, February 1999 |
| Pages | pp M65-M69 |
| Keywords | Mobility ; Self care capacity ; Physical disabilities ; Dementia ; Cross sectional surveys ; Canada. |
| Annotation | Functional impairment over time is a necessary condition for the diagnosis of dementia. To investigate decline in function in dementia, the authors developed a model of the rate of decline in functions in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other dementias in comparison with normal ageing. Secondary analysis of a cross-sectional, representative sample of 2,914 Canadian over 65s was performed, and a measure was calculated as an impairment index, defined as the probability of the occurrences of an impairment or disability in a structured clinical examination. The rate of functional decline varies for different diagnostic groups, and increases with severity of the disease. The distribution for the rate of decline in dementia is distinct from that of ageing without cognitive impairment. In those without cognitive impairment, the distribution is exponential. Thus, the difference in distributions between ageing with and without dementia likely reflects fundamental differences in the processes of decline in functions in the two groups, suggesting that declines seen in those with dementia are distinct from normal ageing. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-010117216 A |
| Classmark | C4: CA: BN: EA: 3KB: 7S |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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